Several abstract Afro-American artists are going after the African inheritance in US culture. Nine of the most representative creators in this pictorial trend will exhibit their pieces till October at the Universal Art chambers in the National Museum of Fine Arts.
The exhibit, entitled, Abstraction and Afro-American artists, includes 38 pieces by Nanette Carter, Willie Cole, Jayne Cortez, Víctor Davson, Melvin Edwards, Bill Hutson, Howardena Pindell, Senga Nengundi and Ben Jones, organizer and curator of the sample.
With the purpose of boosting cultural exchanges between both nations, about a hundred US artists, museum directors, curators and intellectuals, along with the participants at the exhibition,travelled to Cuba in order to visit art schools and galleries, attend concerts and meet with Cuban officials and experts.
“In the US there are lots of creators aware of the strength of black culture in Cuba. That’s why, we have come to nourish from this island and its cultural referents. The link artists from both nations are establishing is really strong and I hope our work will contribute with bringing increasingly together both peoples, because we are not that different, mostly in terms of recognizing that African imprint in us”, noted Ben Jones during the opening of the exhibition.
The sample includes small and medium paintings and drawings in different techniques and it comprises great chromatic richness. It also includes small sculptures that rescue the values of African culture and at the same time dialogue with modern US art.
“Back and forth between abstract and figurative, my passion for the abstract lies in the possibility it offers for simplifying and transferring basic shapes and meanings”, pointed out Jones, who is also a sculptor and curator.
Jones added that since his first time in Cuba back in 1967, this is his 72 visit and he has always tried to set projects for spiritual contacts between both countries. He highlighted this sample pays tribute to the memory of Jayne Cortez, an imminent revolutionary poet and activist that had the world thinking and fighting for social justice.
From November on, this exhibit will be present in several US museums, as well as in Europe and Africa.
Officials from the National Museum of Fine Arts announced that Havana’s next Biennial, in 2015, will welcome an exhibit from the Bronx Art Museum (from New York), and in 2016 two Cuban art pieces will be sent to that US institution as part of artistic exchanges between both nations.
